THIS week on the V8 Sleuth website we ran you through the most successful racing numbers in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars Championship.
That prompted a question on social media as to just which numbers have been at the other end of the spectrum and the least successful.
It was a great question and our AN1 Data stats database has spat out the answer for us, plus a few more to ponder over!
Oh and by the way, we have a huge amount of discounted stock in our V8 Sleuth Bookshop – prices cut on books and magazines so grab yourself a bargain here!
If your name is Scott Pye, you’ve got a chance to make history driving the #20 DeWALT Racing Commodore when this year’s championship resumes, given the number 20 has never won a race in ATCC/VASC history across the 273 races in which it’s been used!
It’s actually an equal record-holder with the race number 47, also used in 273 races without seeing a chequered flag first.
The #20 last visited the podium in the championship at 1992 at Oran Park on the side of the B&H BMW of Alan Jones, finishing third.
Its best finish is a handful of second places, achieved by Garth Wigston (Symmons Plains) and Charlie O’Brien (Surfers Paradise) in the 1979 ATCC and then by Alan Jones in the Lakeside (second round that year) and Oran Park races in 1991.
Before this year, #20 hadn’t been used full-time in the Supercars Championship since 2007 when Paul Dumbrell carried it on his PWR-run, Supercheap Auto Commodore VE, below.
On the flip side, the #47 has been runner-up five times – all in the hands of Tim Slade, though with both Stone Brothers Racing (running under the franchise then owned by James Rosenberg) and Walkinshaw Racing.
Slade finished runner-up twice at Queensland Raceway in 2011, once at Sydney Olympic Park in 2012, again at the Olympic circuit in 2014 and then in Darwin in 2015.
Slade used the #47 across his stints with SBR, Erebus and Walkinshaws from 2010 to 2015 before he departed for Brad Jones Racing.
The third-most ‘unsuccessful’ number is #75, largely used by former Toll Racing driver Anthony Tratt in a period covering 1998 to 2005.
It has only been used once since 2005 – by Brad Jones Racing on its Sandown retro livery car in 2017 with Slade and Ash Walsh driving to celebrate sponsor Freightliner’s 75th anniversary.
THE TOP 9 RACING NUMBERS HUNTING FOR ATCC/VASC VICTORY
#20 – 273 races, 0 wins
#47 – 273 races, 0 wins
#75 – 241 races, 0 wins
#021 – 231 races, 0 wins
#46 – 211 races, 0 wins
#27 – 192 races, 0 wins
#99 – 181 races, 0 wins
#111 – 177 races, 0 wins
#67 – 177 races, 0 wins
